Crossed Paths
by Pandaemic
Summary: When Alek decides to return to Austria as a contender to the throne, Deryn leaves the air force and is caught up in a mysterious group, all while The Great War rages around them.
1. Chapter 1

Crossed Paths: A Leviathan fanfic

Hello Leviathan Fandom! This is gonna be my first story in this fandom and my first in the book section of . It's gonna be kinda short 'cause I want to your response to this before I get into the actual plot, so Review!

DISCLAIMER: I am not Scott Westerfield, my romances are filled with MUCH more angst.

Alek sat down on the thick scaled hide on the Leviathan's topside, feeling the breeze coming from the Hudson and East rivers that flanked the massive whale on either side. A flock of strafing hawks flew around with seagulls, their cries mingling into a faraway cachaphony. He stared down at the new Air Gallantry Cross pinned to his coat, the new silver shining in the summer sun. He also took out the scroll from the Pope, the one which made him the future Emperor of Austria. He weighed each one in his hands, deliberating which one he should choose. On one hand he could become an emperor and live in luxury for the rest of his life, help his people and end the war, on the other, he could become a commoner, usless and powerless-

"What're you doin', ya bumrag? Everyone's looking for you,"

Useless and powerless, but with Deryn Sharp.

Deryn sat down beside Alek as he put the scroll back into his jacket pocket and turned to his friend noting her attire. Her uniform's overcoat was unbuckled and swayed in the breeze, and the top two buttons of the dress shirt underneath were open, showing a glimpse of the bindings underneath if one looked close enough and in the right light.

"Pervert!" Deryn exclaimed vefore pushing Alek over ,knocking him out of his thoughts. She laughed while covering her chest with her arms. "Ow!" Alek replied, as he had banged his elbow on the hard scale under him. "What did I do?" he said while laughing with her.

"Staring at my chest too long, bumrag!" She said, bursting into another round of laughter. She stopped, however, when Alek moved in and tackled her onto the floor, tickling her ribcage and making her laugh even more. " Stop, Stop, STOP! I Can't breathe!" She cried out while laughing, and Alek paused for a moment to allow Deryn to regain her breath. Alek once again stared at her, taking in how beautiful she looked even when her hair was everywhere and her middie uniform was now wrinkled in places. He had made his decision.

"Deryn?" He asked.

"Yeah?"

"I need to talk to you about something," He sighed and stood up, moving closer to the edge.

"What is it?" Deryn asked, standing up and moving towards him. He then pulled out something from his coat pocket, the scroll case that contained his future, or at least one of them. "Oh, that." She said. He took out the scroll, feeling the parchment under his fingers.

"Deryn, I've decided..." he said before holding it in a tighter grip in his right hand, "To..." he drew out the words, still unsure of what her reaction would be to this, he slowly extened his right arm away from his body, so the scroll dangled over the side of the ship.

"Go back to Austria," He finished, holding the scroll over his heart, letting out a sigh of relief at the same time.

"Oh...," Deryn said, her face and mood falling a bit as Alek continued, "I owe it to my people, They've been leaderless for months now, and I think I can stop this war if I were emperor..." He trailed off, seeing Deryn's head drooping and her shuddering. "But most of all, I owe it to my parents. They wouldn't have wanted me to throw this away, or to make the same mistakes my father did."

Deryn stopped crying for a moment, taking in her best friend's words, and felt anger, the same anger she felt in Istanbul. She clenched her fists at her sides, and quietly said "So does that mean every mistake?"

Alek was taken off guard at Deryn's comment, and was stupefied for a moment before he answered, "Uh... yeah," only to find that Deryn was once again shivering, only this time in anger.

"So that means we can't be together then, right?" She said. "Wait what?! What brought you to that conclusion?" Alek answered, before it clicked. _So that's what she's so angry about._

"What I said in Istanbul was a month ago!" He retorted, angry that she thought he still thought that way.

"Yes, but your father married a commoner, and that cost you both the throne, Alek! An-an-and I'm common as dirt! And now you're trying to go back, and take the throne, s-s-so you don't need me anymore," Deryn could feel the tears behind her eyes, but she was still angry.

"I'm sorry Deryn," he said, "But-"

"BUT NOTHING!" She screamed at him, her voice jumping an octave as she did when she became emotional," You're going back to bloody Austria, and you never thought to ask me? I-I love you, Alek, I've said that, but you're still going! Didn't you say your da wanted you to be happy, even if that meant giving up the throne? Do you remever that?" The tears were flowing now, and she felt her breath begin to hitch.

"I'm sorry," Alek said. His english still wasn't the greatest and he was stalling. He didn't know what to say to her, to get Deryn to understand. "But I love my country more than I love you."

Deryn's face suddenly morphed into an expression of anger. Alek immediately backed up towards the edge of the Leviathan, before clamping his hand over his mouth in realization of what he said.

"You... You... YOU BASTARD!" She cried out, not caring who could be listening on them. "IF YOU LOVE YOUR BLODDY COUNTRY MORE THAN ME THAN GO BACK TO IT!" She took a shaky breath before continuing in a low, threatening voice, "It's over, Alek."

"But..." he said, stunned that she would end it so quickly, Deryn's whiplashing moods were leaving him winded.

"I never want to see you again, Alek. If you EVER try to look for me I will personally make you suffer. Understood, your Highness?" Deryn spat out the last two words as if they were venom, before walking away.

Alek sank to his knees. "What have I done?..."

* * *

**That Evening:**

"Your Highness, are you ready?" Alek heard Volger ask through the wooden door. He shrugged on the royal blue hussar uniform and pushed open the door. He felt the smooth grain of the fabricated wood under his hand one last time before walking towards the Austrian transport zepplin docked next to the Leviathan. When he neared the exit he saw Cpt. Hobbes and the other officers standing on either side of the gangplank, saluting him as he passed. He turned to Cpt. Hobbes and shook his hand, as well as Dr. Barlow's, both voicing their appreciation and thanks for being on their ship. Bauer, Hoffman, and Klopp were already on the gondola of the tiny zepplin, which was puny compared to the giant whale looming over them. They waved towards him and Count Volger as they stepped down the long piece of wood connecting the two airships. As he stepped onto the zepplin, the familiar feel of steel under him, he turned back to the crowd of middies and other crew on top and hanging from the side of the Leviathan, attempting to look for Deryn, but failed. She was nowhere in the crowd. He went to the front of the gondola to where two slightly frazzled pilots were, and asked to leave immediately.

"Dylan?" Newkirk shouted, searching for his friend. He had gone to see Alek off but hadn't see Dylan anywhere. He knew they were close, so he went looking for him. He was about to give up searching in the midshipmans' quarters when he heard crying coming from Dylan's room. He quickly threw open the unlocked door, only to find his friend on the floor, eyes red rimmed from crying. The midshipman's shirt was unbuttoned, and Newkirk caught a glimpse of some kind of bandage wrapped around his chest. He suddenly felt awkward for barging into his friend's personal space. The fact that said friend suddenly turned and looked at him with an expression that would have made Newkirk's knees melt if he didn't know any better didn't help.

Deryn's eyes suddenly bulged outwards, and she screamed loudly before jumping into her bed and wrapping the covers around her.

"Wh-what are you doing here, Newkirk? Aren't you watching that prince leave?" She asked, treading carefully as Newkirk had seen a lot and it wouldn't take much to figure out what was going on.

"Umm... Er... It's kinda over. I never saw you there Dylan. Why?" He replied, and Deryn let out a small sigh of relief. "We, kinda, had an argument..." She said, hoping that Newkirk wouldn't pry to much. "Ok, he said, wanting to get out of the room, "Why were you crying? Is it because of those bandages on your chest?" His eyes widened as he realized what they were, "Oh my gosh, are you hurt?!" he exclaimed, before walking to Deryn and sat down on the other middie's bed, looking at his arm covered chest.

"a-a-ah, y-yeah," she replied to him, shocked and relieved that he hadn't figured out her secret. "It hurt a bit and I banged it on the side of the bed. Don't worry about it. I-I'm gonna go into town for a bit, see ya Newkirk," She covered quickly before buttoning up the shirt and throwing on the uniform's overcoat and walking out of her room.

"I need a drink," she said as she walked down the gankplank into Manhattan.

**OK that's finished! Review guys and I'll keep doing this kind of thing. I hope Westerfield makes a continuation of Leviathan. Who's with me?**


	2. Chapter 2

Crossed Paths: 2 years later

**September 23, 1916, Ausitran Alps**

It was a dark and stormy night, but with snow instead of rain. A single giant dragonfly roamed the mountains, spotlights on its head panning the snowscape far below them. The beast was completely manned, meaning it had no brain, and the eyes were instead large tinted windows for the pilots. The thorax was enlarged proportionally and contained eight people inside a spacious cargo bay with individual seats, all wearing matte black bodysuits with black plates that folded together like a suit of armor. Six of them were male, signified with a bulkier build, while the two females in the bay were slightly thinner, and their armor had a more feminine build. They were all wearing black helmets that reached all the way around their head, hiding their face. The helmets seemed to be in one piece, one entire piece of black material with no external eye, nose or mouth slots. All of them carried different weapons from each other, ranging from kunai to fencing sabers. Their guns had long metal cylinders attached to the barrels, silencing the usually loud noise when a gun was fired.

"Final weapons check!" the co-pilot yelled into the cargo bay, and everyone began checking guns, attaching clips and knives, fastening on two long cylinders, about the size of their chests, onto their shoulder blades. One by one the black suited figures yelled back "Check!" before sitting back down. The Buzzard 337-A transport shook a little as turbulence from the mountain wind and one of the people inside began shaking his leg, the hard section of his heel clicking against the organi-steel floor. One of the other figures closer to the end of the bay growled under his breath, slowly losing his patience to the rhythm of the other's incessant tapping.

"Damn it, Cobb! If you won't stop that I'll rip your legs off and feed them to the fabs back on the ship!" He yelled, causing all the others to turn their heads at either him or Cobb, the thinnest of the male figures in the transport. "S-sorry sir," he replied attempting to sink into the hard bench under him. "It's just nerves, captain. It's my first mission out, you know? I mean, you probably weren't scared on your first, but I was just thinking, 'What might go wrong?' 'What if I get caught?' Y-you know what I mean?" Cobb scratched the back of his neck and laughed sheepishly, attempting to continue rambling before he was cut off by one of the female figures on the other side of the cargo bay, seated next to the thickly built captain. "That's enough, private," she said, her slight british accent filtering through the mask. "I'm sure we all were nervous the first time we had a field mission, especially one as important to our cause as this, so don't worry. Any person who says they're perfectly calm every time they deploy is either homicidal or lying." She turned to her commanding officer beside her, "Lucian, let the poor kid off the hook this time," her voice took a slightly softer tone, hoping to appeal to the man's compassionate side. Lucian let out a sigh and relaxed his shoulders, before turning to the private and apologizing with a muttered "sorry". Before Cobb could respond the Buzzard suddenly halted, and the co-pilot walked into the cargo bay. Every one of the suited figures stood up at attention, all weapons and equipment in their hands or on their suits.

"I'll go over the mission parameters once again," he said, after everyone stood near the back. "The French ambassador to Germany has been supplying a terror organization called The Black Hand, based in Serbia, to attack not only Clanker targets throughout Austria and Germany, but also Darwinist targets in Russia and Italy as well. Your mission is to assassinate him. I don't care how, just kill him without any evidence we have been here. Your secondary objective is to secure Doreen, Duchess of Braunschweig. I don't know why this was part of our mission, but it's not our place to question the judgement of our superiors. Remember, 'Mundum in statera, et in multitudine pacis'." All of the figures repeated the motto, treating it as if it were a prayer. "Now then, as of this moment, Operation Angel Down is underway. Good luck and may God be with us." With that the co-pilot left and the back hatch of the transport opened, revealing a 7500 foot drop all the way down the mountain. Cobb watched as each of the others jumped out the back end, deploying a set of paper thin, steel strong wings around their arms to carry them across the night sky. Taking a shaky breath, he ran and jumped out into the night unkown.

* * *

**2 Miles away, Hohenburg Estate in the Alps, **

Aleksander, Emperor of Austria-Hungary briskly walked through the halls of the grand mansion tucked away in the mountains of western Austria. The young ruler hurried past the portraits and electric chandeliers suspended from the high, arched ceiling. He moved faster, sliding across the waxed wood floor as he made a turn. The sounds of chatter, laughter, and music coming from the ballroom and front foyer fading behind him as he moved towards the right wing of the mansion. He came at a rest at a ornate mahogany door. Straightening his military uniform adorned with medals and ribbons spanning the entire left side of his chest. All, save for one. He carefully opened the door, not allowing it to make a single sound. He moved across the carpet towards the carpet slowly and silently, trying not to let out the peal of laughter escape his lips. He stared silently for a moment at the woman currently turned away from him, her sandy blonde hair curling down her back. Alek quietly admired her figure as she stood, trying to attach an earring, specifically the way her azure blue dress flowed in a way that it accentuated her normally modest curves. The woman suddenly put the little stud back onto the table before speaking, her back still facing Alek. "Are you just going to stand there, drooling like an useless _dummkopf?_" she asked, shaking Alek out of his trance and walking over. He had one glance of her deep blue eyes before she pulled him in by his collar for a quick kiss on the lips. "Let's go! We're going to miss the party," she said before pulling Alek out of the room and into the hall.

* * *

**Zweiselstein, Austrian Alps**

Four figures ran across a snow covered field in the dark, snow falling around them. They carefully traversed it, weapons up and ready to fire as they ran towards a house on the other side. The soft, fresh snow crunched under their feet as they ran, belts carrying ammo and equipment immobile even as they hurried their pace. As the four approached the backyard they heard the sounds of a town in a flurry of activity. The party currently being held at the estate farther up the mountain had caused an influx of people in the city, mostly high ranking nobles and military officers. They crossed through the yard of the house, before stopping at the back door. Lucian, the bulkiest in the small team of four, gestured to the building across the street before running around the house and out of sight. The others, one male and the two females, opened the door and stepped inside the house, the bright electric lights forcing them to squint for a moment. The husband-wife couple that was at the table suddenly stood up and saluted, the wife saying "everything is ready for you in the main bedroom, Sergeant,". They returned the salute before heading up the stairs, their specialized boots making little sound. They entered the room, the candles in it lit, casting a warmer light than the electric bulbs downstairs. On the bed they found a black leather package. Inside was floor length red dress, the neckline showing little bust ."Corporal Asuka," the female with the British accent said, "Stand guard." He frowned inside the mask for a minute before it hit him and he flushed, replying with "Oh..." before walking out and closing the door. Both of the women inside removed their masks. One of them had long black hair held in a bun, her Asian complexion giving her a slightly cold look. The other one, the sergeant with the accent slowly removed her mask, allowing her messy sand blonde hair to fall down her back, ending near her hip. They sat on opposite sides of the bed, removing belts and armor plates. Several minutes of silence went by before the Asian woman broke the silence. "I heard this from the commanders back at base, but the party is being hosted by the Archduke of Austria. Just so you know, Ma'am," She said, before continuing to remove her shin plates, not noticing that the sergeant had stopped removing her armor. "The Archduke of Austria, huh?" she said as a predatory grin formed on her face, a glint of the same description in her azure blue eyes.


	3. 3(Yes its short but I HAVE EXAMS)

**Hey guys this is another chapter of Crossed paths, although it will be VERY short(mostly because of exams in like 2 weeks _)**

* * *

"Was that really necessary?" Alek said to the woman beside him, a slightly haunted look gracing his features as he continued to walk arm in arm down the hallway with his fiancée. "Well I have to keep up my whole 'spoiled socialite' routine, and what better way than to steal some rich french duchess's dress idea, present it to the people first, and leave her with the bitter feeling of defeat," she said, with a tone that could have been used to describe the weather. Alek arched one of his eyebrows at her, which was responded with an all-knowing smirk and a flick of sandy blonde hair towards the young archduke's face. He shook his head, returning to his original train of thought. "I didn't mean that, I meant why you had to make me watch you change, " he said, a slight flush appearing on his face as he mumbled the last few words.

"Oh come on, Clanker," she replied, flicking Alek on his forehead, "It wasn't _THAT_ bad, I could tell you enjoyed it," she whispered before leaning in close. Very close. "I-uh-well-er-You were practically naked!" Alek exclaimed as he leaped away from the woman with him. Suddenly said woman started laughing, covering her smirk with a gloved hand she replied, "I was wearing the blasted corset! I knew you were a prude but I didn't know you were that much of one!," She cointinued to laugh as she pulled Alek towards the ballroom where the sounds of partygoers and music could be heard. Alek regained his composure, straightening his uniform while his fiancée smoothed out her crimson floor length gown. The both of them smiled at one another before leaning inwards for a chaste kiss."You know, you still baffle me to this day, _Doreen_,"

**Ok so it was just a bit of fluff, but at least you guys know i'm not dead (yet) see you guys in like 2 weeks!**


End file.
